


We Might Be Heroes

by yunmin



Category: Battlestar Galactica (2003), Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Pacific Rim Fusion, Crossover, Gen, POV Multiple
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-05
Updated: 2015-08-05
Packaged: 2018-04-13 04:01:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,271
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4506957
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yunmin/pseuds/yunmin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lee Adama was nineteen years old when Trespasser made landfall in San Francisco.</p><p>The human race created monsters to fight monsters, and Lee found himself stepping inside one, just as his father did before him. But it's been five years since he was last in a Jaeger. And in that time the world has changed. The defenders of humanity are now a rag-tag gang, people gathered to Galactica to make one last ditch attempt at saving the world. Apollo's Arrow needs a pilot.</p><p>And Marshall Laura Roslin has decided she wants Lee.</p>
            </blockquote>





	We Might Be Heroes

**Author's Note:**

> Absolute, straight up, no pretentions, rip off, dropping the Battlestar: Galactica characters into the Pacific Rim movie and going from there. I was thinking about drift compatability, and was going to do something original and proper fusion, but then I started realising how many characters neatly line up and similarities and 15,000 words later here we are.
> 
> If your favourite character doesn't get mentioned / doesn't have as big as a role as you'd like, I apologise! A lot of characters fit better than others, and I know I've left people out and given out minor roles to major characters and major roles to minor characters - it was just the way it worked. If you recognise the line, it's not mine - I've borrowed a lot of dialogue from Battlestar: Galactica and Pacific Rim.
> 
> This is mostly a gen piece but there are relationships/feelings mentioned - they're all canonical ones, pretty much. (Felix's crush on Baltar is practically canon at this point.) Also, this shouldn't really be a surprise, but - watch the character death, if it bothers you?

Lee Adama is nineteen years old when Trespasser makes landfall in San Francisco.

He's in training on an air force base and the entire squadron of cadets sits in the ready room for three days, waiting for it to get bad enough that they'll be called up to fight. The news blasts on the screen, while some enterprising young soul has managed to patch into the military communications which indicate the situation is even worse than the news reports describe.

The decision is made to drop nukes on the creature. Lee and his friends don't hear about that one until it's done. The death toll must be in the tens of thousands. No one knows what to do. Those with relatives in the bay area are given priority when the phone lines go back up, two days later.

It's a week later when Lee learns, from a nonchalant mother and a slightly more concerned Zak, that his father was in a fighter plane hurling everything he could at that monster.

.

Bill Adama has been in the service for over twenty years and he's never seen anything like it.

They're building giant robots.

He's one of the select few brought in to design the Jaeger offence systems. Bill has to think of anything that might take down what they're now called a Kaiju, and there's a team of technicians ready to make his ideas work. Jasper Schoenfeld is the man in charge, and the world's military forces are behind him, required a method that doesn't leave a trail of nuclear radiation.

Everyone in the facility is young. The best and brightest from across the globe, assembled here to fight for their future. Bill is only in his mid-forties, but he's got to be one of the oldest there.

Out on the deck they're testing the interface between man and machine. One man say in a chair controlling a single mechanical arm, proving the viability of the system. There is still some work to be done in scaling it so one man can control an entire Jaeger. Caitlin Lightcap, the scientist who started the idea, steps out for a closer look at the workings.

“It's very impressive,” Bill says.

“It's only an arm,” Lightcap replies, jotting notes down on a clipboard. “We've got a long way to go yet, and I'm slim on candidates who meet everyone's requirements for testing.”

What she means is: she's got plenty of volunteers, but none with enough combat experience logged for their CO to approve. Anyone whose logged the hours and made the ranks is generally sane enough not to volunteer for the job.

“You got room for an old man?”

Both of Bill's sons are in the airforce now; his ex-wife is engaged to someone new. He doesn't have a hell of a lot to lose.

Lightcap stares at him before blinking twice. “Sure. Why not.”

.

Kara Thrace was one of the top pilot candidates for a Mark-II Jaeger, until she suffered a knee injury that laid her up for nine months and put her out of contention.

But Kara is still one of the PPDC's best assets. Her combat skills are first rate, and she has a feel for the drift unmatched by anyone else, and they need someone with experience to train new cadets. Kara becomes a recruiter, scouting the recruits for likely candidates who might someday do what she cannot; pilot a Jaeger.

So she walks the Kwoon, knee in a support, crutch in hand. The mocking comments tailed off after the first day, when Kara proved that no matter her injury, she can still kick all of their asses. Doc Cottle down in medical bollocked her for it, but she thinks it's worth it.

This batch are young. The worlds military forces saw recruitment soar following the Kaiju attacks, and now the PPDC has it's own program many of them are being redirected. In here there might be a gem who could become a Jaeger pilot. Kara watches one of them. When he drops his staff for the third time trying to complete the training routine, Kara steps in. “That's enough, recruit.”

He stands at attention. His partner drops back as Kara walks towards him.

“Your weight distribution's all wrong. And you need to hold the staff with more confidence. It's an extension of yourself – use it to aid in your balance, not hinder it.” Kara drops her crutch and guides his hands to the correct grip. “Your pointer finger should be your guide. Now show me your stance.”

The recruit retains his grip on the staff as he places his feet. He hasn't corrected for the forward placement of his weight, remaining off balance. “Attack me,” she says.

“What?!”

“You heard me.” She tries to remember his name; he's been transferred into her division recently. Zak, something. “Do it, recruit, or you'll be on clean up duty in K-Science for the next week.”

K-Science have started receiving Kaiju parts. The remnants have been leaving sticky trails all over the lab. It's the worst punishment on base, and he knows it. So Zak strikes her. A sharp sweep, straight out the training manual that bears down on Kara's shoulder but is stopped with a raised hand. Kara twists the pole, pulls, and the staff is out his hand and he is on the ground.

“Recruits!” Kara shouts to their gathering audience. “Someone tell me what he did wrong.”

“His weight was too far forward.” The speaker is Louanne Katraine, known for mouthing off but being one of the best recruits on the program. “You mentioned it to him, but didn't bother to correct it.”

“That's enough, Kat.” Kara focuses her attention back on Zak. “She's right though. Shift yourself back, relax; you're trying too hard, and it's not helping you. Try the stance again.” He gets into it, feet flat on the floor, takes a deep breath to centre himself. “Better. You need to go further, though.” She circles him, adjusts the positioning of his feet, puts the correct weight on his shoulders. “You feel that?” He nods. “Katraine, you're up. Spar.”

Katraine takes her place across the mat. They start on Kara's signal. He's outmatched but Katraine understands that this is an exercise and moderates her hits accordingly; she'll make a good drift partner someday. The fight ends 4-1 to Kat and lasts fifteen minutes. In that time, Zak has made tremendous signs of improvement. “That's what I'm talking about. Again.”

The recruits go back to work. Kara watches them. A great deal of them will never be Jaeger pilots, but the PPDC is building an army that encompasses so much more. Researchers, LOCCENT staff, technicians, chopper pilots; they're all needed. No one is useless. But still, Kara regrets not being out there fighting, even as she's told of all the good she does at the academy.

She's busy staring at the crews constructing the latest Jaeger when Zak approaches her.“Hey, thanks for the help today.”

“It's what I'm here for,” Kara replies, not paying much attention. “Someday might end up holding our lives in your hands, and I'll be damned if you fail cause of sloppy training.”

“Lets hope it doesn't come to that.” He's smiling and Kara is struck by his youth. Can't be twenty yet, and she's not much older, but three years makes a difference.

“Why are you here then?” she asks.

“I'm Zak Adama,” he answers, as if it explains everything.

It does. Kara knows of Bill Adama, pilot of Guardian Husker along with Saul Tigh. They're the oldest pilots in the PPDC and Adama is a man full of patriotism and duty. It makes sense his son would feel pushed into service.

“Wanting to live up to your father's legacy? Well, I can't say I've heard that one before.” Kara laughs, and Zak joins her.

She doesn't plan it, but she's not surprised when Zak falls into her bed at the end of the week. And when they reach the end of the training period, Kara does wonder whether she's making the right choice recommending her lover. However, no one objects when Lieutenant Thrace puts forward Cadets Zak Adama and Louanne Katraine for the Jaeger pilot program.

The delighted look on Zak's face when he hears he's been selected wipes away any lingering doubts Kara had, as he jumps up and down, pulls her into a tight hug and kisses her in front of half the PPDC.

.

Zak Adama never expected to actually become a Jaeger pilot. He expected he'd go through training, do tolerably well, and get assigned to a Shatterdome as general support crew.

But Kara Thrace made all that change.

When he finds out he's made the cut, it's a complete shock. He asks Kara that night, squeezed into one of the racks, whether she'd put his name up because of their relationship, but she denies it. It was close, she says, but Zak's high drift compatibility score edged him over more physically capable candidates.

The search for the co-pilot begins the following day. He and Kat aren't drift-compatible but they have to certify that in front of senior officers before they test with anyone else. It fails, as expected, and Kat is taken off to test with a raft of other candidates. A senior officer approaches Zak and tells him that there's a possible match based out in the Atlantia shatterdome. It means a trip to the Alaskan coast, but everyone has high hopes.

Zak's not sure who he expects when he walks into the testing room, but his older brother, who hasn't spoken to him for two years isn't it.

Both of them protest, but Marshall Nagala shuts them down. They are strapped into the pons systems and await the inevitable; the distortion of mind and matter that comes with the drift. A tech says “Initiating Neural-Handshake in three, two, one.”

Their first try is solid. No one chases the RABIT, no one goes out of alignment. They hold the handshake steady for fifty minutes completing a number of simulation exercises before they disconnect the system.

“Congratulations, boys, you just became our newest Jaeger pilots,” Nagala says.

Their Jaeger takes eight months to build. A towering silver beauty, who Kara immediately names Apollo's Arrow. They're to be permanently based in the Atlantia Shatterdome, so Zak supposes it's time to get used to the cold.

He and Lee start fighting the monsters.

And they start winning. They're heroes. Beloved by the press and public alike, who can't get enough of the handsome pilot brothers who are the sons of one of the great heroes of the start of the war. Sharing the drift has only made Zak unite with Lee in his vendetta against their distant father, but as he's on posting to Galactica, out at Hong Kong, they don't see much of him.

Kara remains a fixture in his life. She's the PPDC's premier training officer, too valuable to put in a cockpit. There's a ring hidden in the back of Zak's things he plans to give her the next time they both get concurrent leave. Currently, she's on a six week assignment at Triton. She and Zak have a daily morning battle over the temperature, but Vladivostok inevitably is colder than Anchorage.

The alarm sounds in the middle of the night. Information about the latest Kaiju – category three, codename Knifehead – is delievered to a display. Zak takes it in as Lee tumbles out his rack and grabs their uniform.

They're fitted into drivesuits by the techs as they receive the briefing from LOCCENT. Zak lets Lee handle that part; the officer on duty is Dualla, who Lee's been pursuing in what isn't yet a relationship but might soon be one if Dualla gets her way.

“You are to defend the Miracle Mile. No heroics, no stunts, you're all that's standing between the Kaiju and the city.”

“Yes sir,” Zak replies. He and Lee step up into the harnesses. They're dropped, and there's a jolt as they connect to Apollo's Arrow. One moment to check the mechanics all work, then Dualla's voice comes over the comm again. “You ready? Initiating Neural-Handshake in three, two, one—”

Zak will never get accustomed to the drift. It is unnatural to be in his brothers head; to see his own childhood memories reflected back at him from a different perspective, to feel Lee's terror at watching his brother fall off the bike. Then there are the memories of a life diverged. The pretty smile of Lt. Dualla, a glimpse of her naked as he leans over her, a morph to blonde hair, laughing, grinning, Kara lighting up the room and Zak doesn't even know if that's his memory or Lee's but it doesn't really matter.

“Holding steady, you're good to go.”

This is the easy bit. Apollo strides forward with purpose, looking for the Kaiju. Lee spots a boat off the coast and is determined to get it when Knifehead shows up, eight thousand seven hundred tons of beast.

They abandon the boat. Knifehead makes a good strike, but Apollo gets an uppercut hit in, flinging Knifehead back. It steadies, turning and lunging, but Apollo's fists find their mark on the brawling mass of its head. Knifehead goes down, but it rises up again, sinking its teeth into Apollo's arm and Lee grimaces from the pain feedback. Zak activates the plasma cannons. One shot, two shot, three, and the kajiu falls back into open water and sinks below the waves.

The lifesigns drop off. Zak lets an obligatory whoop; that's their fifth kill. “Atlantia, Knifehead's down, heading back to base,” Lee says. They grab the ship, miraculously still afloat, and make for shore.

The next thing Zak hears is a panicked cry over the radio. “I'm still getting lifesigns. It's alive down there, Apollo watch out!”

The roar of the kaiju will echo in Zak's brain forever.

He is torn out of his harness, torn out of the cockpit of Apollo's Arrow, torn from Lee but not the drift. His brother is still there, a desperate presence at the edge of his mind, screaming “Zak, Zak, Zak!”

Zak thinks of Kara. Of her warmth, her smile, of the way she loves him so completely, of the ring he'll never get a chance to give her, and if she really knows how he feels.

 _She knows, Zak_ is the last thing that goes through Zak Adama's brain before everything goes dark.

.

D'Anna Biers isn't quite sure how she ended up being the last journalist on speaking terms with the PPDC, but she's willing to bet it has something to do with the vicious anti-wall sentiment that inevitably permeates her broadcasts. It's granted her unrivalled access to the PPDC in its last days, and she's filmed a documentary that will hopefully give the public back their confidence in the organisation.

“Since the fall of Jaeger Apollo's Arrow to Knifehead five years ago, and the increasing untenability of the Jaeger programme, the UN has insisted on channelling funds into building the Wall of Life and relocating millions of civilians further inland to the so-called safe zone.”

“Many senior members of the PPDC have vocalised significant concerns about the ability of the Wall of Life to do its job,” cue footage of Laura Roslin and her aide, speaking at a press conference. “Yet its proponents point to extensive testing that apparently proves it capable of withstanding a Kaiju attack. It remains, however, that the Wall of Life has never faced a Kaiju. The Jaeger crews have so far done their duty and stopped any Kaiju from approaching the wall.”

“But few Jaeger crews remain on active duty. Governments are decommissioning their Jaegers, solid in their belief that they are safe huddled behind their wall, which is due for completion in a couple of months. Shatterdomes Atlantia, Triton, Erasmus and Solaria have all closed their doors in the last month, and the Australian government has almost completed its sale of the Pegasus.”

“William Adama, former Jaeger pilot of Guardian Husker and father of Lee and Zak Adama, the pilots of Apollo's Arrow, has been one of the walls most outspoken critics—”

Here, D'Anna cuts to an interview she did with the man a month ago, where he is fierce and unmeasured in how stupid he thinks the world's governments are being in continuing on this course. Since then, the situation has only got worse. Three more Jaegers have joined the scrap heap with dead crews.

The end of days is coming. D'Anna can sense it in the air. All she can do is hope that someone decides to stop it.

.

Anastasia Dualla was once a lowly LOCCENT tech. She clawed her way up to lead watch officer on the third shift, meaning she was on duty when Knifehead came through the breach and Apollo's Arrow went down. After that, Bill Adama recruited her to head up Galactica's LOCCENT, which was where she'd met Laura Roslin.

Laura Roslin is the PPDC's last remaining hope. The former politician turned PPDC outreach officer turned military leader when Bill Adama's strength began failing. He's determined to stand by her side and see this war through, but medical aren't convinced he'll make it.

“The wall of life is a perfectly viable form of defence,” says the British representative to the UN.

“The wall is not fit for purpose,” Laura argues, eyes focused on the screens in front of her. “We can sit here and talk reports all day long if you wish, I know Ms. Foster has made sure you all have a copy of the study we conducted that proves this. I will not see the human race fall because of bureaucratic idiocy.”

“With respect, ma'am, the Jaeger program has failed.”

“Have you ever seen a Kaiju up close?” Bill chimes in. “Those pilots are doing the best they can, and laying their lives down in the process.”

“We all regret the loss of the lives of those brave men and women. And the wall of life is still considered the best course of action to prevent this.”

Laura takes a sharp breath, preparing a response. “Stop,” one of them says. “We are prepared to fund you for another three months whilst the wall is completed. After that, the PPDC and the Jaeger program will officially be disbanded.”

The screens shut off. Dee could get them back to drum into them just how stupid their decision is, but Laura is shaking her head.

“What now, Marshall Roslin?” Dee asks.

“Marshall?” She looks confused, turning her head to Bill who nods and smiles back at her. “I suppose that is my title now.” She tugs her hands through her hair, pulling it back from her face.

It strikes Dee in that moment how frail both Bill and Laura look. She's not unaware of how much these past years have aged her, too. But Bill and Laura are sans their companions of strength, as Saul Tigh is confined to a wheelchair under constant medical care and Tory Foster having been sent inland to gather the last modicum of political support.

In truth, Laura has been frail since they lost Billy Keikeya to pro-kaiju terrorists two years ago. A young man, always sweet on Dee – and she'd been coming around to the idea, finally moving on from the dream of Lee Adama, the pilot whoabandoned them all – mown down by people who thought the human race should be bowing to their kaiju overlords.

Dee sometimes wonders if she's here out of some sense of loyalty to Billy's last wish. And then she remembers that the survival of the human race is on their shoulders, and Billy no longer seems important.

“Ma'am?” Dee asks again.

“Right.” Laura draws herself up straight, facial features pulled firm – becoming the leader they all know she can be. “We fight. I want everything we can get. The Galactica shatterdome will be our base. I've already spoken to the crews of Stinging Viper, Skeleton Racetrack, and Cylon Colony, who will be joining us. Dr. Baltar has agreed to be our science division.”

“I'll see if Felix will come out as well,” Dee puts in.

“We could use him, if you can get him,” Laura says. “I know both of you have been going over crew lists for the remaining Shatterdomes. Let's poach as many of the effective personal as possible.”

“Yes sir,” Bill and Dee both salute.

“And we've got Kara Thrace's pet project. I'm told she'll have Apollo's Arrow functioning again in a week, if I can find her a crew.”

Which has always been the problem. Dee's seen the restoration work, helped wire up repairs in the cockpit, modifications made on Kara's insistence, and it's beautiful. But Kara won't put two rookies in Apollo, and they don't have anyone with experience in a Mark-III who can drift with any of their current pilots.

There's a twinkle in Laura Roslin's eye though, and Dee has faith. If anyone can pull this off it'll be Roslin and Adama.

.

Noel Allison has spent his entire life wanting to be a Jaeger pilot. From the moment he sat watching the first Kaiju destroy San Francisco, to the attack on Sydney, he's wanted to fight; when Brawler Yukon, the first Jaeger, beat back the Kaiju attacking Vancouver Noel set his sights to one day piloting one of the mighty machines.

And now Stinging Viper has made her tenth kill. It's a new record, and Noel takes a certain pride in painting the marker onto his drive suit.

“They still shutting us down?” It's been a matter of hours since he and Cole stepped from the cockpit, and the drift hangover is riding strong, so Noel can sense Cole come up behind him.

“What do you expect? We're to report with Stinging Viper to Galactica tomorrow, and that's the last word of the Australian government. It's a miracle that there were enough personnel to launch her,” Cole replies.

“A miracle, yeah. That's all that kept this city of five million people alive today.”

“Roslin's plan is solid. We go to Galactica.”

Noel tosses his paintbrush down on the floor in disgust. A trail of white splatters itself across the quarters, but it's not like it matters anymore.

“It's bullshit. We're supposed to make our last stand with three functioning Jaegers, some washed up has-been pilots, and the former secretary of the PPDC outreach program? And just hope that whatever Kara Thrace is frakking up to somehow works itself out?”

“You have a better plan?” Cole arches an eyebrow. He's not happy with the situation either, and Noel knows it. But damn it, someone's got to be angry. “It's what we've got. Deal with it.”

“It's a frakkin' nightmare. If Cain was here right now, none of this would be happening.”

“Yeah, well, Cain shot her second in front of the entire LOCCENT, her opinion doesn't count for shit.”

Noel recalls the despondency on Louis Hoshi's face after that. The flecks of Jurgen Belzen's blood that were still on the collar of his uniform, when the officer had come to inform Stinging Viper's crew of why they couldn't raise anyone in LOCCENT. No one's ever found an explanation for Cain's actions that day. “I'm not saying she wasn't crazy, just that an uncompromising hand might be what we need right now.”

Cole stands up. “You really haven't been paying attention to Roslin.” He pauses at the doorway, and Noel watches him carefully. “It's the end of days, Noel, and that woman will do whatever she has to to ensure humanity's survival.”

With that, Cole leaves. Noel picks up the paintbrush that lies haphazard on the floor, and returns it to the pot of paint. He's still got Cole's suit to do, before all their gear is packed up for Galactica, and he needs to speak to the techs about the damage Viper sustained in the fight.

.

Brendan Costanza never harboured any illusions about his place in the war. He can't pilot a Jaeger, isn't part of LOCCENT or K-Science or J-Tech or any of the divisions that keep the PPDC running. But he's a damn good helicopter pilot, and he'll stay until ordered to leave.

He's spent most of the last three months flying Marshall Roslin across the Pacific as she cashes in favours and retrieves old tech from abandoned shatterdomes. Today's location, Sitka, Alaska – where part of the wall of life is being built – is a surprise, but some of the kit from Atlantia might have walked. Brendan isn't in the habit of asking questions, besides.

Roslin finds him a clear spot alongside the wall to land. She tells him to stay with the chopper, but Brendan has already discarded his helmet. “I'm coming with you, sir.”

“It's not necessary.”

“Marshall, I'm to accompany you at all times.” They've had this argument before. Adama had made it an order, but Dee enforces it. “Captain Dualla was insistant.”

Roslin acquiesces at the mention of Dee's name. She's had a soft spot for the captain ever since Billy Keikeya died, and everyone knows it. Roslin has a lot of soft spots. But there are few people who know just how hard she can become when they are threatened, who have felt the wrath of her temper and her rigid sense of justice.

There's a crowd gathering around them. Roslin was well known before, and it's no surprise that people are wondering why the head of the PPDC is there.

A young man pushes himself to the front of the crowd. That's when Brendan realises. He wasn't in the PPDC when Apollo's Arrow went down, but he still recognises the face of Lee Adama; the strong jaw, sharp eyes, tight smile. The photo Bill has of his son shows a military crop, but he's outgrown that, hair falling into his face.

“Marshall,” Lee says.

“Lee,” she replies. “Your father sends his regards.”

Lee stiffens. “It's been five years.”

“Indeed. You're a hard man to find, Lee.” Roslin smiles. “Is there somewhere we can talk in private?”

Lee looks round, then back at Roslin, trying to judge if she's serious. She stares him down. Brendan scans his eyes over the watching crowd; none of them know what to make of it. “Yeah, sure, follow me,” Lee finally says, waving his hand in the direction of the construction site.

Brendan follows, but stands well clear of their argument. Roslin must be here to bring Lee back to pilot Apollo's Arrow, now that Kara has her operational. But Lee's been absent from the program for five years, and if he was interested in jockeying again he'd have returned before.

But Laura drives a hard bargain, and Brendan has two passengers on his journey back to Galactica.

He just hopes that Lee Adama truly is the saviour Roslin believes him to be.

.

Laura Roslin is not a military woman. She used to be a teacher, before becoming part of Richard Adar's political campaign and landing the job of Education Minister. Fast forward several years through the Kaiju attacks and Adar's death at their hands, and Laura joined the PPDC, working in education and outreach.

Now, she is the leader of a ragtag crew of people who are willing to give their lives for the future of the human race.

She takes the time in the helicopter to study Lee. They've met before in an official capacity, but Laura's gleaned more from Kara and Bill over the years than she ever did from Lee himself. She sees lines on his face earned from five years hard work. His grief for his brother is clear, too. He's not the bright laughing soldier from Kara's memories, or the studious child Bill remembers.

It's raining when they land. Fitting. It soaks through Lee's hair before Costanza appears with umbrellas, forcing him to push it back from his face. In an instant, he looks more like the Jaeger pilot Laura knows from the propaganda, and she starts to believe.

“Look what the cat dragged in.”

Lee starts, eyes wide. His head swivels to where Kara Thrace stands, still in her coveralls, umbrella held at a jaunty angle. “Kara Thrace. Why am I not surprised.”

“Because it's me.”

Laura watches Lee draw to a halt in front of Kara, not quite sure what to do now. Laura's aware that there have always been rumours about the pair, that Zak wasn't the only Adama brother Kara was sleeping with, but she knows they're untrue. But in that moment she can see why now, as the two of them try and work out the correct protocol for a greeting.

Lee settles for a handshake and “It's good to see you, Kara.” Laura moves to continue the tour, but a man with long dark hair and a lab coat dashes past her carrying scientific equipment. Following him is another man moving as fast as he can with a prosthesis and a cane.

“My apologies, Marshall, it seems that Dr. Baltar has an experiment that simply cannot wait,” Felix Gaeta says as he walks past her. She nods an acknowledgement to the second remaining member of her science division, and carries on to Lee and Kara.

“Ms. Thrace has been responsible for the repairs and upgrades to Apollo,” Roslin says.

“I also picked your pilot candidates for tomorrow,” Kara adds, falling in step with Lee. “You've got your work cut out for you.”

“And you just met what's left of our research division, Dr. Baltar and Felix Gaeta.” Laura collapses her umbrella as they step into the shelter of Galactica. There's a lift waiting that will take them down to the main deck.

Lee nods. “I remember Felix. He wrote most of the code for Apollo's Arrow. And Dr. Baltar's some sort of genius, right?”

Kara coughs. She's had her fair share of run-ins with Baltar's particular brand of genius. “Yes. Specialising in exploiting Kaiju weaknesses, whilst Mr. Gaeta is working on a predictive model for breech activity.”

The lift jutters to a halt. “This way,” Laura says, ushering Lee forward. “Welcome to Galactica.” The heavy doors that keep the deck secure open under Kara's code input, revealing the hustle and bustle of a Shatterdome in her last days. The remnants of the PPDC; no longer an army, but a resistance.

Lee steps out onto the floor, and stares. Laura remembers her first time here, amazed at the vast expanse. Five years is a long time to be away. She notices him glance at the numbers above her. “War clock,” she says. “We reset it every attack.”

Kara is off, heading back to Apollo with determination. There are still modifications to be done. “Galactica used to house thirty Jaegers in five bays. Now, we've only got four.”

“I didn't know it was that bad.”

“It's not common knowledge. No need to exacerbate the panic.” She stops so Lee can catch up, then gestures up at the big black Jaeger. “Cylon Colony, one of the best. Built as a collaboration between Russia and China, she's defended Hong Kong seven times.”

“I've heard of her. It's a three pilot system, right?” Lee stares at the organic quality Colony's mechanics managed to give her.

“Three pilots from a team of six, yes. Leo and Ben Conoy, Natalie and Sonja Sechs, and Sharon and Athena Valerii make up the crew.” Laura nods her head to the Pyramid court. Two men, distinguishable only by a goatee, play against three women; two blonde and slender, the other shorter with dark hair. Athena Valerii is elsewhere. “Three sets of twins born on the same day with the steadiest Neural-Handshakes on record.”

“That's crazy,” Lee comments as Ben Conoy manages to bounce a ball under his brother straight into Sonja's grip.

“That tank is Skeleton Racetrack. Last of the Mark-I's, heaviest Jaeger ever built, and has the punch to go with it. Her pilots, Hamish McCall and Margaret Edmondson, have patrolled the Siberian Border for six years and it has never been breached. She's a brutal war machine, Lee.”

Edmondson approaches, brandishing blue prints. “Taylor and Allison have just arrived, Marshall,” she says as they pass. McCall, Edmondson's six foot shadow, says nothing.

“Taylor and Allison,” Lee mutters. “The Stinging Viper pilots, right?”

“Yep. Fastest Jaeger in the service. She's the one you'll be running defence for.”

“Defence for what?” Lee turns sharply, blocking her path. “It's all very well and good saying you've got a plan, Marshall, but unless you tell me what it is, I can't help you.”

Laura means to answer Lee, but then she spots Bill Adama standing across the way, and frankly he is more important to her than Lee's demands for information. At her silence, Lee huffs, then tracks her gaze. “Dad?”

“Go,” Laura says. She can greet Stinging Viper, her pilots and the rest of the Pegasus Shatterdome crew on her own. So Lee stumbles over, even more halting in his approach to his father than he was to Kara, and Bill is the same for a moment before pulling Lee into a tight hug.

Laura turns away. This is not her moment to intrude on. She has work to do.

.

Felix Gaeta must be a fool, for that's the only reason he'd be on Galactica at the end of the war, sharing lab space with Dr. Baltar.

There was once a time he'd have been delighted with this turn of events. From his earliest days in the PPDC, he'd worshipped Gaius Baltar, the eminent scientist who'd turned his brilliant mind to helping with the war effort, pushing for better understanding of the Kaiju. When Felix's programming efforts had thrust him to the forefront of J-Tech research, they'd entered into a correspondence; witty and thought-provoking and Felix truly thought he'd found the man of his dreams.

When they met, three years ago, that illusion was shattered within the week. Felix had picked up the pieces of his broken heart and moved on, thankful they were based on opposite sides of the Pacific. That is no longer true.

It's not just the failed crush that makes this awkward. Felix is over that, mostly – he's friendly with one of Pegasus's LOCCENT officers and Dee's trying to set them up but Felix isn't quite sure he's ready despite Louis being great. It's Dr. Baltar's habit of talking to himself that makes him nigh unbearable to work with.

“Dr. Baltar!” The other man whips his head round, wide eyed and sheepish. “I need quiet, please.”

“Why, yes, of course Felix. You know, you really must call me Gaius, after all, we've know each other for how long now?” He asks the question to no one in particular, and Felix can't say he's surprised Baltar doesn't know. “Six years, yes, thank you Caprica, six years and you'd think you could bear to call me by my first name.”

“Dr. Baltar,” Felix says again. “Do you not have work of your own to be doing?”

Baltar looks annoyed, but it turns to a smile as he turns his head away from Felix and towards an empty spot across the room. Felix sighs. Roslin and Adama are hounding him for more data on the workings of the breech. He's more concerned by the recent speed of the kaiju attacks.

“Why yes, I know, they're identical, right down to a cellular level, I can read these results.” Baltar is babbling in the background again. Felix tunes it out. “What does it mean? Clones, Caprica, they must be clones. Genetically engineered fighting machines.” Felix wonders if he can make an excuse to leave. The Pegasus crew must be arriving now, and they could surely use a spare hand. “Forgive me if I'm doubtful that your god has our best interests at heart considering he seems to be perfectly alright with sending these monsters to destroy us.”

A couple of hours later and Roslin and Adama are in the lab, and Felix is using his cane to gesticulate at the blackboard. “Then they were every two weeks. In Sydney, we only had a week. We could see another Kaiju in four days, and then it's only going to get worse. Eventually, a Kaiju will come through the breech every four minutes, and we will see a double event.”

“That's all well and good, Mr. Gaeta,” Laura Roslin replies with a smile. “But if I'm going to drop a thermonuclear warhead on the Breech, I need more.”

“Aside from the fact that a triple event will follow that, and then four, and five?” Felix walks over to the computer, steps still slow as a result of his prosthetic leg. “The increased amount of activity going from their universe to ours should result in the breech stabilising. As the breech is atomic in nature, dropping your warhead into it,” and Felix drops the warhead into the simulation, for dramatic effect, “should result in its disintegration.”

Adama is wary. He's attacked the breech before and failed, but Roslin seems optimistic. “Excuse me, Marshall,” Dr. Baltar chimes in. “But you have got to think twice about attacking the breech with so little information. All Felix has offered you are predictions, not anything ground breaking on how the Kaiju work.”

Baltar pulls out some samples, then launches into a speech about how the Kaiju are clones. “Frankly, if they are genetically identical and still appear so different, then there must be some sort of higher power at work, and it makes no sense that it would leave itself vulnerable to such an obvious attack!”

“Do you have a suggestion to make, Dr. Baltar?” Adama asks.

“I have no solutions but given a little more time there has to be something more feasible than our current course of action, if you could only hold off activating this reckless plan, Marshall—”

“That's enough.” Roslin folds her arms. “Mr. Gaeta, I'd like your work on my desk. Dr. Baltar, I suggest that you find something productive to do.”

She walks out, Adama close on her heels. Baltar's mouth gapes in surprise, but Felix ignores him. If there's any consolation to be had at the end of the world, it's that everyone on Galactica hates Dr. Baltar just as much as Felix does. So, with a smile, he prepares those reports for Roslin.

.

Hamish McCall has always been a good pilot. He and Maggie didn't succeed in defending the Siberian wall six years straight for nothing, after all. But being one of the last standing Jaeger pilots is something he never anticipated.

However, another is due to join their number.

Hamish stands at the back of the trials, his height easily allowing him to see over the crowd, offering a running commentary to Maggie, who's beside him.“Who's up next?” she asks.

“Beano,” Hamish replies, watching the man step up to the Kwoon floor. “5 cubits Lee has this guy 4-1.”

“It'll be 4-0.” Maggie looks up from the stack of candidate files. “Thrace has got to be kidding if she thinks any of these candidates actually have a shot. Costanza would be a better choice. Or hell, get Agathon back in.”

Karl Agathon has a pact with his wife to never pilot a Jaeger again, so that isn't likely. And Maggie wins the bet. Beano's on the floor, Lee Adama's staff at his neck, while Bill Adama watches with narrowed eyes. Kara Thrace crosses his name off her list with a sigh.

“That's it. What are you playing at, Kara?” Lee drops the staff, letting it clatter to the ground. “Drift-compatible, my ass. Get down here, you could trounce every candidate on this list.”

“Ooohh,” Maggie hisses. “Which expression is she making? The 'I'm totally done with your shit' or 'say that again and I'll kick your ass'?”

“Kara isn't on the list of candidates, son,” Bill Adama says.

“Yeah, cause she's a chicken-shit who missed her chance at flying once and is now too terrified to do it again.”

Hamish has to give it to Lee, if he wants Thrace on the floor, he's going about it the right way. And she falls for it, handing her clipboard to the Old Man and unfastening her boots. “You better prepare to get your ass kicked, Lee.”

“She's going for it?” Hamish nods; Kara's handed a staff by one of her nuggets. “Give me a boost,” Maggie demands. Hamish ducks, letting Maggie push off from his hands and then his back onto a ledge at the edge of the Kwoon where she'll be able to see.

Kara and Lee are 1-1 when he looks back up. Still baiting each other, impatient, yet to find a rhythm. Kara makes it 2-1 with a dirty shot, but Lee doesn't let her take a breath before swinging back round to equalise. They begin to circle each other, slow steady steps around the kwoon mat before Kara lunges forward. Lee parries her shot and something clicks. Kara swings round and they are dancing, neither of them able to land a hit as the move is always anticipated for, the synchronisation that usually comes with years of practice and familiarity.

“That's that, then,” Maggie says. Hamish thinks that's such a simple way to describe the inexplicable thing that's happening before them, the rough edges of two individuals coming together to make a perfect whole.

Kara and Lee stop, staffs crossed in the centre of the mat. Lee whispers something that Hamish can't hear, but it makes Kara fall back, dropping her staff down to a resting position. Hamish thinks she doesn't look happy.

“Everyone, out!” Bill Adama calls. There is grumbling, of course, but Bill was in charge here for years, and though Roslin is Marshall now, they still regard the Old Man's word as law. Maggie, instead of clambering down drops onto Hamish's shoulders.

“You know, there's something poetic about Thrace finally getting to fly,” Maggie starts. Hamish doesn't bother responding.

Why bother, when Maggie knows what he's going to say before he's even had a chance to say it?

.

Dr. Gaius Baltar is one of the foremost scientific minds on the planet. He's the eminent expert on the Kaiju, not that that means much, and might be the only person who can find an answer in this mess. But Laura Roslin doesn't believe that. She insists on treating him like a petulant school child. Not to mention Felix Gaeta, who's spent the past three years upset at him about something or other. Gaius supposes it might have something to do with the leg he's managed to misplace between then and now.

“Are you really going to let them talk to you like that?” A voice croons. Caprica, the angel of his nightmares, sits in a red dress atop Felix's desk.

“What choice do I have? It's quite clear that Roslin and Adama have no desire to listen to the facts of the situation! They'd rather run around in their delusions than face the reality.”

Gaius stops in his tracks as Caprica advances towards him. “Well,” she says, fingertips stroking along his jaw. “You'll just have to find something that forces them to see.”

She snaps his head over to one of the tanks. “What?” he asks. She just purses her mouth at him. “The secondary brain? Why, yes, I know the Kaiju are so large that they require a secondary brain to control the basic motor functions, but what does that have to do with our current situation?”

“It's a brain Gaius. What is the one thing that neither you or poor Felix has?”

“Proof,” Gaius mutters. “I just don't see how you think I can— Oh.” He has a moment of realisation. “You can't be serious. Use a variant of the pons system to create a neural bridge allowing one access to the Kaiju's memories.”

Caprica smiles at him. “Don't you want to know if you're right?”

Gaius should know better than to allow the hallucination of his dead girlfriend to manipulate him into doing something this stupid. For ten years she has haunted his every move with no explanation for her presence. But under her advice Gaius became the forefront of K-Science, and why stop listening to her now?

Which is how he ends up with a neural-bridge system built from spare parts lying around Galactica, one half attached to the remnant of the Kaiju brain, the other secured around his head. “Well. Here goes nothing.”

“Prepare yourself, Gaius,” Caprica says, leaning against the tank. “You're about to enter a world beyond your imagination.”

“Kaiju drift experiment, take one.” Gaius slides the recorder into his pocket and starts the drift.

Blue. Drowning. Pain. A cacophony of voices, compressed across the narrow thread that connects one universe to the next. Great creatures, built for one sole purpose. In that moment, Gaius Baltar learns more about the threat that faces them than anyone has in the twelve years they have been fighting the Kaiju. And the truth is terrifying.

All this has happened before. Millions of years ago, when the last great extinction happened. Not the work of a meteor but Kaiju, who found a world not ready for them. Only now it is. This is only the beginning, advance scouts before the real invasion force arrives. All this will happen again.

Just before he passes out, Gaius Baltar swears he can see Caprica's face above him, with a smile. “Did you see, Gaius? The Harbinger of Death is coming.”

Then it all goes black.

.

Louis Hoshi has always prided himself on staying calm in stressful situations. His voice is the point of contact between the pilots and LOCCENT, and he owes it to them to be steady until he can call them home.

This is testing even him.

It's a flight test. Everyone on deck has done them before. Lee Adama is an experienced pilot with five kills in the very Jaeger they're testing. Kara Thrace is the best pilot that never was. Nothing should go wrong.

Dee counts down to the neural handshake on Roslin's signal. Then Felix tears into LOCCENT, leaning heavily on his cane, calling for Roslin and Adama. They follow him out, leaving the test in Louis and Dee's hands. They've got it under control, though both of them are concerned about Felix. Dee because he's her best friend, and Louis because – because Louis wants to be more than that. At least he didn't appear to be harmed.

Louis turns back to the console. Everything's fine, until Lee Adama jolts out of alignment. Dee calls out to him whilst Louis checks the equipment. There's nothing wrong on their end. Lee starts to pull himself back with the help of Dee's voice, but then Louis notices Kara's brain waves.

“She's chasing the RABIT.”

“Kara, come back to me,” Dee says. “You've got to stay in the present.”

“Lee's gone too,” Louis says. Their brainwaves are identical, indicating that they are both trapped in the same memory. “And Kara's adrenaline level is up.”

“Frak,” Dee mutters. “Sian, go get Roslin or Adama, Felix doesn't need both of them. What are their levels now?”

“Epinephrine up for both of them, adrenal response corresponds to that. I don't like Kara's Acetylcholine spike either.”

An alarm goes off. Louis looks up to find the arm of Apollo's Arrow has been raised, now pointing at LOCCENT. The computer generated voice states, “beginning attack sequence.”

That's really not good. Louis knows the specs. If Apollo's plasma cannon goes off, it will take out the entirety of LOCCENT, ending the resistance. He starts typing frantically, trying to get into Apollo's systems to shut her down. “Hoshi!” Dee calls.

“I'm trying, she's locked us out.” There are those who could break the code – Felix amongst them – but Louis is powerless.

“Everyone, out!” Dee orders. The LOCCENT crew start their evacuation.

“Cut the power?” Louis asks as Dee begins pulling out all the cables connecting the main console.

A cord in hand, Dee turns and says, “I just did.” Apollo's Arrow is not powering down.

The cannon is ninety percent charged now. They have no response from the cockpit. Adama charges back in, but Dee simply shakes his head. There is nothing he can do. The three of them look on in horror as the cannon's pulse builds and builds and builds, bright light shining in their faces, forcing their eyes closed.

And then an automated voice says, “Powering down.”

The light dissipates. Louis flies to the console seeking confirmation.“They're coming out the drift.” Dee looks out of LOCCENT with folded arms as Apollo's Arrow returns to stationary position.

“I want them both in my office, ASAP.” Adama turns to leave, abandoning them to sort out the mess.

Louis continues to monitor Kara and Lee as they return to their recorded baselines, before giving the all clear to J-Tech for cockpit retrieval. “That was close,” he says to Dee.

“Too close,” she comments. “No one will clear them for duty after that.”

Louis agrees. Which is bad, because their entire plan is predicated on having four Jaegers to attack the breech. If that number goes down to three... Louis can only hope.

.

Sherman Cottle is the chief medical officer left with the PPDC. His team is small. The pilots have brought their own medics with them – the longstanding relationships make life easier – and there's the nurses responsible for the decaying health of their leaders. So it's just him and his deputy, Layne Ishay, looking after Kara Thrace and Lee Adama after their failed drift.

“This isn't necessary, Doc.” Cottle has been Kara's doctor since she injured her knee back when she was in the pilot programme, and knows her moods.

“You almost blew up Galactica.” He takes a puff of his cigarette. “And your neural handshake failed. That necessitates a full medical work up, and you know it.”

“I'm fine,” Kara argues. “And where's Lee?”

“Ishay's running through his tests now. We'll have you back in the same room soon.” Cottle hates dealing with the after-effects of the drift. Pilots who have lost the ability to distinguish their partner from themselves. Lee and Kara aren't there yet, but if they drift again – with the spectre of Zak Adama lingering between them – that might not be the case.

So Cottle does the full work-up. Blood drawn, MRI, CAT scan, checks that Kara's knee hasn't been further damaged in her harness. He's checking Kara's pupillary response when Ishay wheels Lee's bed into the room. Cottle finishes what he's doing and moves away, taking Ishay with him.

“I should have told you,” Lee starts, before they have left the room. “Zak was still in my head when he died. I should have prepared you for that.”

Cottle's office, where he and Ishay run the tests, only creates the illusion of privacy for the pilots. They can still hear everything said. “I should have been ready for it,” Kara replies. “I found the ring. It was hidden behind an old book of Kataris poetry he didn't think I'd read.”

Cottle's seen the ring that swings on Kara's dogtags before. It's not the only addition she's made, but no one dares question her about the others. “It's beautiful, Kara. He should have gotten to give it to you.” There's a pause, then Lee asks, “Is that Sam's?”

Cottle isn't surprised that Kara carries something of Sam. It makes sense. Kara never broke after Zak's death. But after Samuel T. Anders – that was when they almost lost her to the well of her own grief.

“None of this is your fault,” Lee says.

“How can you say that after—”

A machine beeps, violently protesting at whatever Kara's just done. Ishay darts to the door, but Cottle stops her.

“Zak failed his last physical,” Kara says. “Before I left for Vladivostok. His reflexes were too slow and I should have put him on notice but I didn't. Because I felt something and I couldn't bear to tell him he couldn't get back in that Jaeger. I figured you'd work it out in the drift, it's why I didn't put myself forward for the pilot tests.”

Cottle's going to find out whoever was the doctor who allowed Kara to clear Zak for duty, and make sure he's stripped of his license. It's not her fault. She shouldn't bear the burden for something that was someone else's fault.

“Kara—” Lee's voice is desperate, searching for something to say. Cottle lets Ishay go, interrupting them with her brusk manner. He steps back into the room himself after extinguishing his cigarette.

“Am I clear, Doc?” Kara asks. “I've got work to do.”

She won't be getting back in a Jaeger, that's for sure. But there's other things that Kara can do, and Cottle hasn't been ordered to keep her here. “I'll get your discharge papers.”

Lee doesn't look happy at Kara running away, but it's not their problem. Cottle is there to look after their physical bodies. Their emotional states are a different matter.

And there are others that need him. —

.

Margaret Edmondson has been a pilot for nine years, and the rush of action stations is still as fresh as the first day she stepped into her Jaeger.

Galactica is on full alert: two Kaiju through the breech this time. Concern is mounting amongst the crew about what a double event means. Margaret doesn't care. It's the same routine as always. Go out, fight, defend, hope you come back alive. Up in LOCCENT, their orders come through. Skeleton Racetrack and Cylon Colony are to engage the enemy, Stinging Viper is to defend the miracle mile. Apollo's Arrow will remain behind.

“Skeleton Racetrack, approaching the target zone. Let us go, Showboat.”

The wires are cut and Margaret feels her stomach flip as the Jaeger plummets towards the ocean. They've done this a hundred times, and they always land on their feet. Colony drops into position alongside them, with Leo, Natalie and Sharon at her controls. Ben and Sonja are back in LOCCENT, watching and waiting.

Margaret doesn't know if she could do what they do. Send a part of themselves off to battle and not know if they'll get it back. She can feel Hamish's presence in the back of her mind and it's a comfort.

She snaps herself back to focus. They are deep in Hong Kong bay, with no sign of the Kaiju yet, but it's only a matter of time.

“Movement on my right.” That's Leo Conoy's voice. Margaret can see it; the spine of a creature with a great long barbed tail rising out of the ocean, circling Colony. From Agathon's descriptions, this is Otachi. It knocks Colony over.

There's another one about. Margaret keeps her eyes peeled. Colony rises from the deep, finding her footing and launching a counter strike. Satisfied they've got it covered, Margaret calls to the advance helicopter. “Costanza, any sign of the other one?”

“Negative, Edmondson, Leatherback has not yet made landfall.”

Hamish is pulling Skeleton Racetrack forward. Colony has thrown the Kaiju in their direction, and Margaret relishes in the drift, the strength of their mighty machine as she bashes the monster atop its head, striking it down and pummelling it into the ocean's floor.

It doesn't last. A strike right across the centre, and she and Hamish are thrust back, Skeleton Racetrack falling under the waves. It takes a moment to right themselves. “LOCCENT, Racetrack and Colony are in trouble, we're moving in,” comes the voice of one of the Stinging Viper pilots.

“Negative, Viper, we need you to carry that bomb,” Laura Roslin replies.

Something's wrong with the systems. Everything is moving too slow, and Margaret has a pounding headache, echoing and amplifying across the drift. Colony is in serious trouble, but they can't get one foot in front of the other, can't get a grip on Otachi to pull her away from the other Jaeger.

“Screw this, I'm not watching them die Cole.” That's the other Viper pilot, disobeying orders. Margaret wants to shout back a response, that they've got this under control.

They haven't.

Otachi rips Colony's cockpit from her body. Crushes it and tosses it like it was nothing, sending the lives of three Jaeger pilots to rest at the bottom of Hong Kong bay. Colony herself falls under the waves.

The anger surges through them. Hamish has bashed the control panel back into submission. They open the cannons, prepared to shoot down Otachi, fist ready to strike, when Otachi gets there first. “Skeleton Racetrack, we've been hit with some kind of acid, our hull's been compromised, we need backup immediately.”

“Copy that, hang tight,” Dualla responds. Their comm channels have got messed up; they can hear one of the other LOCCENT techs giving Viper the go ahead, Agathon cursing as he tries to fix Racetrack's problems. Hamish is assessing the damage; it's not good. They're grappling with Otachi, trying to get away, to let Viper in with a clean shot.

“Racetrack, look out, Leather—” Whatever Costanza is warning them about gets lost. They are pulled back under the weight of another beast, and there's the other Kaiju – just waiting to take its chance. Part of their defensive hull is ripped off, then an arm. “Edmondson, McCall!” Costanza yells over the comms.

“There's water in the reactor,” Margaret responds. She knows what that means as much as Hamish does. Leatherback is taking them to pieces, but it doesn't matter anymore. They don't have escape pods. The reactor will blow before the techs could get them out, even if they beat Leatherback. “We're going to take the bastard with us.”

“Mags!”

Margaret ignores Costanza. She turns to Hamish, who's already started running the sequence. “We've had a good run, Maggie,” he says.

She places her finger on the trigger. “That we—”

It all goes black.

.

Galen Tyrol has run the deck of the Galactica Shatterdome for the last five years. He has never been without power before.

“Socinus, find the flashlights. Seelix, where's the back up generator? Figurski, get hold of LOCCENT, I don't care if you have to run up there yourself. Cally—” Tyrol stops in front of one of his deck hands, who's tampering with a wind-up wireless set. “You got anything?”

“Nothing sir, you'll be the first to know if I do.”

Tyrol looks around at his people. They're trying not to let the fear show, but they all heard Cylon Colony then Skeleton Racetrack go down, and everyone's worried that Stinging Viper will be next.

“Yo, Chief!” Figurski tosses a long range radio in his direction. “Adama wants to talk to you.”

“Sir?”

“We're launching Apollo's Arrow,” Adama says.

“What about the power?” Tyrol asks.

“One of the Kaiju gave off an electro-magnetic-pulse, all our systems are fried. We've got no contact with Viper, her systems are down. But Apollo is—”

“Nuclear.” Tyrol realises what they're up to. “She'll still fly.”

“Kara and Lee are on their way.”

Tyrol fastens the radio onto his belt. “We're launching Apollo. Old style. Jammer, take Figurski and get those blast doors open. Pollux,” an older woman lifts her head, “Thrace, Adama and their drivesuits are your responsibility. Seelix, you know her systems, get her online. Move it people!”

The crew springs into action; they're prepared for this. “Laird.” Tyrol addresses Viper's technician, one of the few staff that came over from the Pegasus. “You know Viper's systems. She was hit with an electro-magnetic-pulse, what's her prognosis?”

“She'd shut down. It would take hours to get her systems back.”

Which means she's completely defenceless out there. “Cally's trying to get a wireless working. Go help her, see if you can contact your crew.”

Laird takes off. Tyrol surveys the deck. The blast doors are being forced open by an old hydraulic backup system, exposing Apollo's Arrow to the Hong Kong harbour. Pollux is just finishing fastening Thrace into her suit as Tyrol joins the three of them in the cockpit.

It takes him and Pollux a matter of moments to secure the harnesses. Thrace starts running through her launch protocols. “Good hunting, sirs.” Tyrol snaps off a salute before exiting.

The crew all draw back as Apollo is lifted off by helicopters into the bay.

“We know anything more?” Tyrol asks his crew.

“Evacuation order was sped up, the shelters are closed,” Cally replies, having heard the call on the radio.

“LOCCENT's still completely down,” Seelix adds. “Systems are fried.”

“Firelli reports flare guns being fired off the top of Viper.” Figurski's clutching another two-way radio. “Must be Taylor and Allison, they're still alive.”

Tyrol gets on his radio. “This is Chief Tyrol and the deck gang, requesting instructions.”

“Stand by,” says Dualla.

“One of the Kaiju is tearing through Hong Kong,” Cally says.

Tyrol's grip on the radio tightens. It's the worst thing about being on the deck; you never know what's going on. Right now he doesn't even know if he should prep his crew for recovery. There might not be anything too recover.

Silence settles; the odd silence of the deck, where nothing is ever silent in the whirl of machinery and the buzz of the comms system, but no one speaks. Until Tyrol's radio buzzes. “Chief, we've recovered Viper, bringing her in now.”

There is a palpable sigh of relief throughout the room. It's something to do at least. More information starts to filter through. Taylor is injured, likely a broken arm, but Allison is unharmed. One of the Kaiju is still loose in the city, but Apollo's engaging the other one.

A large blast rattles the floor of Galactica. It's too large to be a plasma cannon, must be a detonation of some kind. “What was that?” Tyrol shouts, half to his crew, half to his radio.

“Nuclear explosion. We think it might have been Skeleton Racetrack,” Dee responds. She shouts something to someone else that Tyrol can't make out. “Leatherback's down. Senior command is going to the roof, we can't see anything from here.”

The crew all look at him. Stinging Viper is intact in her bay. “Roof it is, then,” Tyrol decides. It won't harm anyone to have them up there – Viper's systems won't be back until they've cooled down and hit a hard refresh, and they can't speed that process up in anyway.

On the roof, Tyrol gravitates to where Karl Agathon is standing, a little way back from Roslin and Adama, but still near the front. “What's going on?” he asks.

“The explosion was definitely Racetrack,” Karl confirms.

“I'm sorry, man.” Karl was the head of Skeleton Racetrack's support crew, and has to be taking the loss of her crew badly.

“They did good. Took down Leatherback – we knew they weren't getting out of her once the water got into the reactor.” Tyrol clasps a hand on Karl's shoulder. “Apollo's engaging Otachi at the moment.”

There's commotion amongst the brass; Roslin, Adama, Dualla, the officer brought over from the Pegasus whose name Tyrol can't remember. Something's happening and it doesn't look good. Looking out across Hong Kong, they see the Kaiju rise, battle scarred but now with huge, terrifying wings and it's carrying Apollo.

They climb, higher and higher, until they're just a speck in the sky. Neither Tyrol or Karl has binoculars, so they haven't a clue what's going on. “Chief, if Apollo falls from that height—” Karl hesitates.

Tyrol understands though. And he doesn't know Apollo's systems well enough to make a definitive call, but he has his suspicions. “They'll be crushed. The Jaegers aren't built to sustain a fall from that height.”

And fall Apollo does, after killing Otachi. She falls below the cloud cover, a burning streak of red moving far too fast. She blasts herself back – a fuel purge, Tyrol thinks, darned clever – but she's still moving, plummeting. Hits the ground with enough impact that the shockwaves can be felt on Galactica. There's a moment of terror that she might not have made it.

But then she rises, standing tall over Hong Kong and the crowd cheers.

They've won this battle. Now, Tyrol has to prepare for the next one.

.

Tom Zarek is one of few people whose lives improved post K-Day. Gone is the political prisoner of conscience; in his place is a black market dealer who's built a small empire off the back of the Kaiju. Striking a deal with Roslin and Adama that allowed him access to the Kaiju parts in exchange for financial support had been a no-brainer, with the added bonus of watching them squirm.

But now they've sent Gaius Baltar his way. The man is a blithering idiot at the best of times; his decision to drift with a Kaiju may have killed them all. Tom doesn't hesitate to say so.

Hive minds. He knows it's a theory across K-Science. The Kaiju's demonstrated ability to learn had almost proved it. It begged the question of why no one had stopped this stupid man. Not everyone in the PPDC was an idiot.

And so Tom had sent Dr. Baltar out into the chaos of Hong Kong. Let him be the one to feel the Kaiju's wrath, while Tom sat sheltered in his bunker with his staff. They listen on the radio as the Jaegers are sent out and fall; first Cylon Colony, then Skeleton Racetrack. The one person who Tom will grieve in all this is Mags. She'd been the one to work with him day to day, and he'd grown fond of her against his better judgement. Now she rests at the bottom of the ocean along with countless others before her.

Another Jaeger brings down the Kaiju and Tom mobilises his team, keen to get to the remains before decomposition sets in. Then Gaius Baltar barges back in demanding his brain.

That's how Tom finds himself in downtown Hong Kong standing beside a dead Kaiju with a man he's sure is insane. “My men are working as fast as they can,” he says, as Baltar bounces on the balls of his feet.

“That may well be, but this is a matter of unfathomable importance,” Baltar replies. “The fate of the world is in our hands at this moment, Tom – may I call you Tom?” Tom narrows his eyes, but is ignored. “And I would hate to explain to Marshall Roslin why I couldn't provide her with the answers she so needs.”

“The cavity has to be pumped with Carbon Dioxide. My men need suits and oxygen tanks. These aren't things that can be worked around.”

“Yes, of course – the Carbon Dioxide halts the acidic reaction of the fluids with the Nitrogen Oxide in the air, essential to the preservation of the brain – but still, I don't think we have much time.” Baltar turns to the air beside him. “Time is of the essence as I thought you would know – unless you want to provide the information, my dear?”

Tom tunes Baltar out. His men are progressing through the innards of the Kaiju. He hears tales of the bad news – the secondary brain is damaged. But there is something else too, a heartbeat underfoot. The Kaiju strains and a foetus comes tearing out, with the same bright blue acid mouth, only to collapse a metre in front of a fleeing Gaius Baltar.

“There's your brain,” Tom says. “Now save the world.”

He walks off. Baltar can go back to being Laura's problem, and he can go back to doing what he does best; defying the rules.

.

Athena Valerii hasn't been a Jaeger Pilot for three years. Officially, she's still on Colony's roster of rotating pilots, but she hasn't made a drop since choosing Karl Agathon over her sister. Her pregnancy not long after took her off-duty for a year, and she never went back.

Now, in lieu of Colony's destruction, she's not sure what she's supposed to feel. Grief, yes, for Sharon and Leo and Natalie – but she is grieving for Edmondson and McCall as well, who have been better friends to her in recent years. Guilt, for not being in the Jaeger herself – but then, Sharon had no one, whilst she has Karl and Hera, people who need her, and it's horrible to look at it that way but it doesn't make it any less true.

Athena wasn't a better pilot than her sister. She wouldn't have brought victory; only a widower and a child without her mother.

The mood in Galactica is strange. Full of joy for Thrace and Adama's triumph whilst mourning for the loss of two crews. Terror of what will be next, rumours of a triple event filtering out of Felix Gaeta's lab. Ben and Sonja have locked themselves away, and Athena wonders for a moment if she should go and offer what little comfort she can. It won't be enough, and there's other things she'd be better served doing.

She walks onto the deck to find it frantic. Karl stands in the middle of it, directing technicians and LOCCENT staff alike. Kara Thrace is up in a harness fixing something on Apollo's Arrow, while an angry Noel Allison is yelling at some tech about the finer parts of Stinging Viper. “What can I do to help?” Athena asks her husband.

Karl flips a couple of pages in his checklist. “Anything,” he sighs. He looks across to their two remaining Jaegers – Apollo, fresh paint job scuffed and Viper with a nuclear warhead now loaded on her back. “We've got to be ready for the next attack.”

“The alarms haven't sounded,” Athena comments. “Nothing's through yet, is it, Karl?” Her husband isn't responding. Athena places her hands on his arms, bringing him back to her. “What's going on?”

He takes a moment to breathe, ducking his head and laying it to rest against hers. “Nothing yet. Dee's keeping an eye out, but we haven't long. Viper and Apollo need repairs, and Taylor can't jockey – he's busted his arm.”

“Do we have other pilots?” Athena knows they do – herself, Ben and Sonja for a start, though none of them are likely to sustain a drift with Noel Allison. Karl himself was in the pilot program 'til very late on. All of Thrace's candidates lined up for Apollo. And then there's Adama himself, and Saul Tigh on base – but both of them are too ill to fly.

“Adama and Roslin said they have a plan,” Karl says. “I have to trust that. They'll find someone who can drift with Allison. They need him in that ship, he's the only one who knows the Mark-V systems properly.”

“Of course.” Athena lifts her head up and brushes a kiss to her husband's cheek. “Now, what can I do?”

She watches as Karl stiffens, becoming the man who headed Skeleton Racetrack's team for so long once again. “Go help with Viper. Hoshi's having a little trouble getting all the systems back in place after the EMP and Allison's stressing and not making his life any easier.”

Interference, basically. She can do that. Athena walks over to Allison, bickering with Hoshi. It's nothing, really, as Hoshi has been responsible for Viper's systems since day one and he and Noel are friends. All the while, Athena dreams of the end of the war. Of her baby girl, safe hundreds of miles inland with one of Karl's sisters, and she prays to a god she isn't sure she believes in that they'll all make it out okay.

.

Saul Tigh is too old for this. Too ill, his doctors would say – confined to a wheelchair with an IV pumping drugs into his system. Cancer has caught up to him, and regardless of what happens, he has been on borrowed time for weeks.

He should be dead already.

But there are two Kaiju through the breech, and a Jaeger that needs a pilot, so Saul is watching his best friend strap himself into a drive suit. Bill is getting into that Jaeger even though it's going to kill him.

“We're out of options, Saul,” Bill says as he fastens the chest plate.

“And what does the Marshall have to say about this plan?” Saul's glare is no longer as effective as it once was, the eyepatch rather hinders it, but he suspects Bill gets the picture.

“Laura always knew that we'd have to make hard choices.” Translation: she doesn't know about the idiotic stunt Bill is about to pull.

“This isn't one of them,” Saul says.

Bill sighs. “I know.” There's a weariness in his face, a tightness around his mouth, and eyes that are almost wet. “Come on. Let's go face the music.”

Bill picks up his helmet and props the door open so Saul can manoeuvre through it. The base isn't built for a man in a wheelchair but he'll manage to get down to the hanger deck to see Bill off.

The whole crowd is waiting for them when Bill strides through the bay doors. Laura and Kara discussing the temporary fixes done to Apollo, Allison tugging at his boots, Taylor with his arm in a sling – they all turn to see Bill Adama once more in his pilot's gear.

Lee gives a gasp of “Dad,” but it's Laura who drops everything and approaches Bill.

“Getting into that Jaeger will kill you,” she says, placing a hand on his chest plate.

“Not getting into one would kill us all,” he replies. Saul wonders if Bill will kiss her, in front of all the Galactica crew, none of whom know about the relationship. But death is a powerful motivator, and Laura gets her moment, a quick brush of the lips and touch of foreheads. “Sometimes you gotta roll the hard six.”

Laura brushes a tear from her eye as Bill pulls away. He clambers atop some debris as a crowd gathers.

“Ten years,” Bill says. “Ten years ago, we were attacked. A monster crawled from the depths of the Pacific and attacked our homes. And we beat that one back but six months later they came back and they have never stopped attacking. But we found a way! To fight the monsters we created monsters, and brave men and women gave their lives in the service of humanity. I say no more! We stand on the brink of annihilation and all of you – you say no more! We will take the fight to their door, we will face the monsters, and we shall say – no more. No more fighting, no more monsters, no more apocalypse. So say we all!”

“So say we all,” Saul says back. It's lost in the chant that starts up, hundreds of voices of crew and technicians all melded together in a chorus of words. Four syllables, strung together, into a tangible cry of hope.

Saul only prays it will be answered.

.

Caprica has concerned herself with the activities of Gaius Baltar for many years now.

Taking on the image of his dead girlfriend, her name, becoming a spectre that haunted his every move. He's right, after all – there is a higher power at work here. But that doesn't matter in the end. It comes down to these few itty-bitty humans, here and now, that have dared to stand and fight against the insurmountable odds.

Felix Gaeta stands aside the makeshift pons system Baltar's rigged up, communicating with Galactica over the radio. Something has made him irate, yelling at Gaius as he sets up the connection to the Kaiju's brain.

“You know what Felix, I really don't care about your theories. We're nearing brain death and then this Kaiju will be useless to us and that cannot happen.” Baltar jumps down and approaches the pons.

“Careful, Gaius,” Caprica warns. He doesn't look at her so she drapes herself over Felix. “You might need him before the end of this.”

“What?” Baltar questions. Lifting one of the pons devices, he turns to look at Felix and Caprica. “Oh.”

The wheels in Felix's head must be turning too. How this is an impossible task for one man. Caprica runs a hand across Felix's cheek and tugs on a curly strand of hair. “Together,” Felix says. “That's what the pilots do. They share the neural load.”

“You think that would work?” Gaius seems hesitant.

“What have we to lose?” Felix points out.

“He's right on that,” Caprica adds. “Why do you think you were brought together, if not for this moment?”

Gaius considers it for a moment. Then he sticks out his hand. “Together, then, indeed, Felix.”

Felix takes the offered hand. “For the good of the world.” They place the pons devices on their heads, looking foolish until Gaius presses the button initiating the drift.

Caprica does not know what they see. Her God has granted many things, but the vision that they see now is theirs alone. She can only watch as their bodies begin to fail under the strain, as Felix's cane falls to the ground, and hope that the sight they are granted is enough to end this war.

.

Karl Agathon has spent the last five years heading up Skeleton Racetrack's support crew. Now they're gone, he's not quite sure what to do with himself.

In the wake of the attack on Hong Kong he'd pressed onwards, managing repairs for Apollo and Viper while trying to work out in the back of his head how to retrieve as much of Racetrack as possible from the Bay. But he's cleared both the Jaegers for launch; Kara and Lee in the cockpit of one, Bill Adama and Noel Allison in the other. LOCCENT will be full, and there isn't much he can offer there. Athena has vanished – possibly off to mourn her sister with her remaining co-pilots, lose herself in a ghost-drift she's resisted for three years. Karl's thinking his best bet is to head down to the decks and stick with Tyrol's crew, when he hears someone call his name.

It's Costanza. He's suited up ready to fly – in fact, Karl swears he should be in a chopper already. “I said, you got anywhere to be?”

“No,” Karl responds.

“You got your flight suit?” Costanza asks. Karl nods; it was packed in the move from Vladivostok. “You're coming with me then.”

In five minutes Karl's taken the co-pilot's seat in Brendan's chopper. They're lead scout, waiting for clearence before they can follow the Jaegers out to the drop site. They have it quickly, and Brendan flies a quick chase whilst Karl watches the Jaegers sway below the jumphawks. It's been a long time since he watched a drop. Usually he's busy prepping his pilots, watching the incoming Kaiju, but now his pilots are dead.

“Easy, Agathon.” Costanza's voice is muted through the headset. Belatedly, Karl realises he's grabbed the controls. He looks up to see Apollo's wires being cut and the Jaeger surge underneath the ocean. They're a couple of miles from the breech here, ground that the Jaegers will have to cover on foot. Costanza's switched channels so they can hear LOCCENT and the crews talking.

“Six hundred metres to the cliff,” Allison says. Karl looks at the screen in front of them, a smaller version of the one in LOCCENT. The Jaegers are moving steadily towards the target. “I can't see a damn thing. How the hell are we supposed to deliver this bomb?”

That is where the support teams come in. They are second, third, fourth pairs of eyes. The Jaegers switch to their instruments. Dee calls out a Kaiju on Apollo's right, but Kara and Lee can't see it. They jump down the cliff face, getting ever closer to the breech. “Viper, the Kaiju are stopping. One O'Clock,” Hoshi says in LOCCENT.

“Commander, what are you doing?” Noel asks as Karl watches Viper come to a stand still on the monitor.

“It doesn't make any sense,” is Bill's reply.

“I don't give a damn, we're two hundred metres from the drop, let's do this.”

“You're clear Viper, take the leap!” Taylor yells.

“Allison, Taylor, wait.” Roslin's voice comes over the speakers. Karl can imagine her, standing in LOCCENT, fretting, adjusting her glasses as she watches. “Bill, I trust your judgement.”

“Something's not right here,” he says.

Karl can't see it. But Costanza moves the chopper, circling around the ocean's surface, seeing if there's anything. Still nothing. “They've got to take it,” Costanza mutters. “If they wait—”

“They'll get themselves killed,” Karl says.

“Viper, Apollo, proceed with caution,” Roslin says in a considered manner.

“Don't do it!” comes the voice of Gaius Baltar. “It's not going to work.” Karl and Costanza look at each other. “Blowing up the breech, it's not going to work.” His voice is clearer now, probably having grabbed a microphone.

“What the frak is he on about?” Costanza asks.

“He's been saying something to this effect for days,” Karl replies. Adama is displaying similar doubts.

But then Felix is on the comms too, agreeing with every word of what Baltar is saying. That the breech is tuned to the Kaiju's genetic signature, and without it, the bomb will just deflect straight off and the mission will fail as it always does. But, if they go in with a Kaiju—

“We might actually do this,” Costanza says.

Karl nods. The PPDC runs on hope – especially over these last few days, when the odds have seemed insurmountable. But this is the first time they can see the end. Two Kaiju, two Jaegers, one thermonuclear warhead.

And then a third Kaiju signature rises up from the breech.

Karl can only keep hoping. He has to have faith.

.

Cole Taylor has been on the front line of this battle near since it began. Now, he is having to watch his co-pilot in his Jaeger with someone else, and there is nothing he can do to help.

Their plan is solid – Viper will ride one of the Kaiju into the breech before detonating the bomb, while Apollo runs defence. But there are three Kaiju to deal with, and the one that has just emerged out of the breech is a category five.

“Apollo's a hundred metres behind them,” Dee says to Hoshi. They're sat next together at the front of LOCCENT, with Roslin at Dee's shoulder and Cole at Hoshi's.

“Affirmative,” Hoshi says. “Viper, you've got Kaiju immediately at nine and twelve o'clock.”

Cole finds Hoshi's narration soothing in a fight, but now it just irritates him. Adama and Noel's vitals are spiking; they're fighting back hard, probably taking damage, and Hoshi is a beacon of calm. Cole knows he cares – memories of Noel's in the drift prove that – but would it kill the guy to show it?

And where the hell is Apollo? “Apollo's left arm is gone,” Dee calls. Fighting her own battles, it seems.

“Apollo, twelve o'clock, it's coming at you full speed,” Adama calls to them.

“Get out of the way,” Dee adds. Cole looks across. Apollo shows no signs of moving – her dot remains still on the screen, and all of LOCCENT watches as Raiju converges onto the Jaeger. “Apollo!”

“We're good,” Kara replies, laughing.

Cole pulls his attention back to Viper. Hoshi's in fierce discussion. “The release is jammed,” Noel says. “We can't deliver the payload. Half our systems are offline.”

“We need to override the—” Adama starts when a kaiju crashes into them. There is now fear on Hoshi's face, as he pushes his chair away from his station.

“Cole, watch them. Felix, can we get Viper's systems back up remotely?”

Gaeta doesn't answer yes, but if anyone can, it'll be those two. Cole slots himself into Hoshi's station.

“Both Kaiju are converging on Viper,” Dee says. “Apollo, what's your position?”

Lee responds, but Cole is calculating. He knows Viper – he knows her chances of sustaining a hit like that. It doesn't matter if Gaeta and Hoshi get the systems back online. “Apollo, do not come to our aid,” Adama says.

LOCCENT goes silent. Roslin goes white. “We can still reach you!” Lee argues.

“Stay as far back as you can. Lee, Kara, you know exactly what you have to do. Apollo is nuclear.”

There's a gasp – it must be Roslin. Cole turns, to find her with a vice grip on Dee's chair. Across LOCCENT, Hoshi is standing wide-eyed. He knows what it means.

“Take her to the breech!” Adama commands.

Viper's system failure has reached eighty percent. They don't have much time. “We can't leave you,” Lee says.

But they have to. The fate of the world rests on them completing this mission.

“Kara,” Adama says. “What do you hear?”

“Nothing but the rain, sir.”

“Grab your gun and bring in the cat.”

“Aye aye, sir.”

Apollo starts moving towards the breech. Whilst Adama's been speaking, Noel's primed Viper for her last act. “What do we do now, sir?” It's a stupid question from him – Viper's one button push away from annihilation.

“We can clear a path.”

“You know, my co-pilot always said – if you have the shot than you take it,” Noel responds.

“Noel—” Cole says, at the same time that Laura gasps, “Bill—”

“So lets do this,” Noel says. “It's been a pleasure, sir.”

They press the button. An alarm wails. Cole's dashboard lights up with a dozen warning signs. Hoshi dashes back over, ready to make a last plea to Noel, but Gaeta reaches out a hand. Everyone's heads are bowed, waiting for the inevitable.

Cole wishes he could have been there. He doesn't have anything to lose. Adama does, Roslin's face is example enough of that, and even Noel – Noel is too young to be dead in this war. He's never had a chance to live outside the PPDC. Cole should be dying in his place.

But it's too late.

The explosion rocks the sensors, the sound of it screeching over the feedback loop. Viper's flashing dot vanishes, but so do the life-signs of the two remaining Kaiju. “Detonation successful,” Dee confirms in grim tones. Cole can see that himself. Stinging Viper, Noel Allison, and Bill Adama, wiped out in a single nuclear blast.

But they've given Apollo what she needs. And she is making for the breech, with her nuclear core – and that is going to have to be enough.

.

Lee Adama is thirty-one years old when he falls into the Breech.

It's a strange feeling.

The Kaiju is still alive, but Lee beats it back. Kara's oxygen is depleted – first by half, then sinking down to critical levels. A countdown starts. “Fifteen percent remaining. Ten percent remaining,” when he makes the decision. Kara can have his oxygen. She needs to live. He secures her and starts the evacuation process.

“Your levels are critical Lee,” Dee says. “Set the detonation and get out of there.”

Lee tries to think. It's getting difficult. Kara's pod is clear. She won't get caught in the explosion. “LOCCENT, Dee—” he falters as he moves forward, pushing the buttons. “I'm initiating reactor override now.”

An error message comes up. That's not going to work. Manual activation is required. Dee calls something out to him but Lee doesn't hear it. He releases himself from his harness, crawling through the shower of sparks to the manual valve. And all the while he is falling, falling, ever further into the breech.

He's there. Opens the hatch, turns the valve, presses it down. “Reactor meltdown in t-minus sixty,” he says. Who knows if anyone can still hear him.

He steps back into his harness. Looks for the buttons, attempts to position Apollo so his pod will shoot back up through the breech. He has no idea if it will work. He just leans back as the systems take over, as he is raised and place in a pod and launched out of Apollo.

The last thing he remembers is a blinding pulse of light.

.

The confirmation comes through in LOCCENT. The breech is closed. The mission succeeded.

Hovering above the Pacific Ocean, Brendan Costanza moves his rescue team in. Karl Agathon radios Galactica – they can only see one pod. It opens to reveal a women, who chucks her helmet into the sea revealing a shock of blond hair.

Kara Thrace looks across the vast expanse. She has not come this far to lose Lee in the end. Another pod breaks the surface, and Kara finds herself diving into the water, swimming desperately towards what she hopes is her salvation.

She tears the pod open. In her ear is Anastasia Dualla, telling her that although there are no life signs, the sensors may have malfunctioned. Kara doesn't care. She drags Lee's limp body up, trying to find a pulse, clutches his body and lays his head on her shoulder so she can try and feel his breath against her neck. Nothing. She holds him tight. It's not a goodbye.

Lee Adama starts breathing again. He mutters something to her and Kara draws back in glee, delighted, and lets out a whoop of celebration.

They hear it in LOCCENT. Everyone lets out a breath they didn't know they were holding. They've lost many, but two of their pilots have come back to them. As everyone turns to celebration, Laura Roslin still watches the screens. They've been granted so many miracles – what more would another one take? It falls to Dee to stand by her side, take her hand, and tell her what a good man Bill Adama was. He saved them all.

But he is not coming back.

Gaius Baltar finally learns to ignore the hallucination in front of him in favour of the man standing beside him, and grabs Felix Gaeta into a one armed hug of joy and companionship. The woman who took the name Caprica smiles, then leaves with a warning that all this will happen again. No one is listening. Released from Baltar's hold, Felix approaches Louis Hoshi, the man who he so dearly wants to love but has been afraid of doing so, and wraps him into a warm embrace. Louis responds with a kiss, with tears of both celebration and sadness on his cheeks. They all have much to mourn.

Cole Taylor yells stop the clock. It occurs to him that he is now the senior military officer on Galactica, and with it come responsibilities that he doesn't want. But he has a duty to his people, the same as he did when he was a pilot, and he will not fail them.

On the deck, Galen Tyrol's crew put down their tools. No more monsters means no more Jaegers. And whilst there is still recovery, restoration, they all know that no one will begrudge then their break. Cally Henderson smooths down her uniform as she watches Marcie Brasko pull Anthony Figurski down into a kiss.

Across ship, Athena Valerii watches as her two year old daughter Hera Agathon waves at her through a view screen. By her side lie Ben Conoy and Sonja Sechs, still battered from the loss of their twins and co-pilots. But Athena looks at them and she looks at her daughter and thinks that now they will be all right. They have all the time in the world to heal.

The breech is shut.

Above it, Kara Thrace laughs once more. She clutches Lee Adama close, as they wait for the choppers to be cleared for descent to fish them out the ocean.

“We did it,” they say, words tumbling out together. The clasp their hands and look skywards. “Zak— If you're out there. We did it. We saved the world.”

**Author's Note:**

> If you wanna chat to me about my character choices / anything you can find me on [tumblr.](http://drinkupthesunrise.tumblr.com)


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